《Synthesia (The girl who became an AI after the end of the world)》


 Prologue (A hope at the end of the world)

    The year 2030


    The soft tapping of footsteps sounded outside the sickly white, clean room. A carefully managed amount of light filtered through a tinted screen as it passed through the hospital''s fourth-floor window, reflecting on the face of a girl lying on a strange bed. All around her, various medical instruments sat in different stages of use. Despite the hoses and wires scattered around her body, a calm smile covered her shallow face, as though this was a completely normal state of affairs. The remains of well-kept black hair nearly covered her head slumped against the bed''s pillow. Ruby-red eyes that stared aimlessly at a screen coming from the ceiling were the only things that appeared untouched by whatever had led to her ending up here.


    Her condition was something new, or at least the doctors had always said so. A kind of electrolytic buildup in the blood; the girl had heard them call it a million seemingly different things, but those overly complicated names had a habit of escaping her. It was something that would have likely killed any ordinary person before they even had the luxury of getting their first breath of open air. However, this girl had managed to struggle through twenty-one years of life, where each moment was an uncertain coin flip. There was only one reason for this. This unfortunate girl was the sole heir of the world''s largest arms manufacturer. Because of this, every second of her life was one surrounded by men in white asking her questions, taking samples, or injecting medicines with varying effects. It was an exciting life, one where relaxing moments like this were all too uncommon. The girl focused on the TV program, a pile of half-read books, and manga on her bedside table.


    ¡°TV announcer¡± (the remains of the prehistoric super volcano discovered last year have begun being extracted. Scientists are already speculating on the use of the new element 119 found within. The super-heavy particle has broken all known records with its incredible stability under everything but the most extreme circumstances, in which case it becomes an entirely self-sustained reaction, leaving few waste products behind. Qualities that have led many to wonder if it could replace current treatable elements. In other news, weather on the east...)


    The rhythmic beeping of the machines around her suddenly increased in frequency before growing to a rapid beat, as if they were angered at not having her attention for an unusually long time. The girl was brought back to her reality by the feeling of liquid flowing into her veins. Wincing at the pain that suddenly began to grow throughout her body, as her vision grew dark, she could see the electric door to the hallway slide open before all at once the room was filled with motion. Figures with instruments of unknowable purpose were rushed in, followed by men and women in white scrubs that fell nearly to their feet. In this short instant, her vision nearly became entirely dark, the world around her transforming into a blur.


    The doctors worked for more than an hour, but to the girl, it felt like only a moment. The insistent beeping finally began to still, and her world slowly regained color. Her surroundings had not changed much. The only differences being that her skin lay exposed to the air, her bedding having been frantically ripped up, and more precisely that a man dressed sharply in a suit and tie stood with knotted hands talking to a doctor with a pair of telescoping glasses slung from his neck. Struggling to sit up, the man''s conversation entered her ears, immediately catching her attention.


    [Doctor] ¡°Sir, I regret to inform you that her condition is becoming critical. I feel I must once again recommend what we previously discussed. It might be her only chance at survival.¡±


    The man in the suit could not meet the doctor''s eyes as he spoke. Each word seemed to make him grow smaller. Grabbing the nearby wall to steady himself, he managed to croak out a response.


    [sharp dressed man] ¡°Is there really no other way? I¡¯ve invested billions in this company, and you¡¯re telling me you can¡¯t do anything? What about drugs, or one of the new scanners that can see down to the atoms? As a father, you must understand, right? I refuse to believe this is some kind of incurable curse!¡±


    [sharp dressed man] By his last words, the man was almost shouting, though that action took all the passion he had left. Slumping against the wall, he looked at the doctor, who only shook his head and sighed.


    [doctor] ¡°It¡¯s not that simple; the attacks have gotten worse in the last few years. Now even the painkillers have begun to lose their effect. She could make it through the end of the year, or it could be next week. Even if she does hold on, we both know that¡¯s no way to live."


    He paused for a moment, letting his words settle in before continuing.


    [Doctor]¡°Hanz, That¡¯s why I¡¯m recommending the Phoenix Project¡­¡±


    He barely got his words out before he was interrupted.


    [Hanz](the father) ¡°Jonathan, how long have I known you? You know what that will do to her; she will barely be human.¡±


    He continued in a low, almost pleading tone.


    [Hanz](the father) ¡°Just promise me that you¡¯ll be doing the operation personally.¡±


    The doctor nodded his head and looked like he was going to say more, but a low moan from besides him caused both men to turn their heads. The girl on the bed had managed to push herself up onto the pillow and was looking around with a bewildered look in her eyes. Seeing this, the man in the suit ran to the bedside and got on his knees so he could look the girl in the face when he spoke in a barely controlled sob.


    [Hanz](the father) ¡°Oh, Rosa, oh my daughter, can you hear your father is here. I promise that it won¡¯t be much longer; hold out for a little longer, just a little more.¡±


    The doctor came and rested his hand on the man¡¯s shoulder.


    [Doctor]¡°She can¡¯t hear you. Part of her cocktail this time was a high dosage of our most powerful anesthetic; it¡¯s the only way we¡¯ve found to somehow calm her nerves.¡±


    Despite the doctor¡¯s certain attitude, the girl¡¯s eyes cleared up a little when she looked at the man in the suit kneeling in front of her. Her voice came out as little more than a gasp.


    ¡°Father.¡±


    To her father, these words were like a beacon of light, causing him to nearly weep in joy. However, the doctor''s expression told a different story; his slightly wrinkled face seemed to have aged tremendously in that moment, his countenance could only be described as one of total shock. Forgetting about everything else, he dashed over to a screen hooked up to an IV bag, muttering to himself.


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    [Doctor]¡°These dosages, they should be nearly lethal... No, it¡¯s not malfunctioning... that could only mean that¡­¡±


    His voice trailed off before he turned towards the well-dressed man kneeling..


    [Doctor]¡°Sir, we have to undergo the operation as soon as possible. At this rate, if we wait any longer, it will no longer be possible.¡±


    The other man, having noticed the frantic scene, stood up and grabbed the doctor who was trying to exit the room.


    [Hanz](the father) ¡°What are you talking about? I thought you said we had plenty of time. What¡¯s happening?¡±


    The doctor frantically spit out an explanation before running out of the room.


    [Doctor]¡°During the operation, she needs to be completely calm in order for our sensory nerves not to be overloaded. I had believed that we could rely on the drugs for a little more time; however, her ability to metabolize them has exceeded even my bleakest prediction. I need to go get everything ready; if you decide to go through with this, then each moment counts right now.¡±


    With that, the door to the clean room slid close, leaving the father alone with his daughter to make the unimaginable choice. Numbness took over his heart. He didn¡¯t notice as people poured in around him, nor the two doctors gently pulling him out of the room. The same words just kept flickering in his mind like a creed, ¡°it¡¯s the only way,¡± but was it? Would she even want to be frozen in time, hoping one day to be cured, perhaps long after he himself was gone? A few instants passed before the man came to a decision, but it wasn¡¯t his own reason that made up his mind. He remembered what his daughter had said when he presented the idea to her. ¡°Ha, ha, it can¡¯t be worse than this.¡± She said the words with a self-deprecating smile on her face while laughing at what she must have thought was an impossible suggestion, but he suspected that there was more truth in those words than anyone could ever know. When a nurse walked up to him, saying that the preparation had been completed, handing him a tablet that required his signature, he waved his finger across it without a second thought.


    The procedure went better than anyone could have hoped. While much of her living tissue was irreparably damaged, the brain and nervous system, with the help of the newly discovered element 119, were able to exhibit all previously known activity measurements. In fact, it even appeared as if they were actively trying to assimilate any electronics that came in contact with them. This was a property that was not looked into at first, as the primary purpose had always been merely to preserve consciousness and nothing more. However, the coming era would not be one that was kind to those who had unused capability. The discovery of element 119, which at first appeared to be a blessing, would turn out to be nothing but a curse as the struggle for the resources would bring the world over the brink.


    Year 2040.


    A man sat alone in a far-off room in an estate so big that the house alone nearly covered an entire block. It had been ten years since he had given his daughter to the Phoenix Project. In those years, the world had become a dark place, one where genocide had become so commonplace that the news hardly talked about it unless it happened in a major country. It was a world where men like him were striving to fill the void, betting it all to take the whole table for themselves. But he cared for none of it. Unlike so many others, his goal had not changed in those years. Every ounce of his being was devoted to seeing the Phoenix Project reach completion. Something he was finding more and more difficult as the government had become increasingly interested in his work. As if to confirm this thought, a servant ran into the room, alerting him that he had guests. Sitting up, he slowly walked to the meeting room where one middle-aged man and a woman who must have been in her late sixties were waiting for him. When he saw their green military uniforms with gold adornments, he was tempted to close the door and walk back the way he came. There was a bit of his mind that told him that would achieve nothing. Continuing forwards, the middle-aged man spoke, his perfectly trimmed silver mustache swaying when he opened his mouth.


    [male government agent] ¡°Have a seat, Commissioner.¡±


    Hearing this, Hanz let out a sorrowful laugh and sat down.


    [Hanz](the father) ¡°Haven¡¯t you people ever heard of respecting a man in his own house?¡±


    The older woman put in to cover her partner.


    [female government agent] ¡°These are trying times which do not fit well with pleasantries. Besides, I think you will find what we have to say critical to your current ¡®experiment¡¯.¡±


    Hanz waved his hand, telling them to continue.


    [female government agent] ¡°The higher-ups have deemed your Phoenix Project too valuable to fall into enemy hands. Henceforth, the program will be conducted under government supervision at a secure site. This will include all your personal as well as any relevant documentation about the project that you or your company own.¡±


    For a moment, Hanz was too stunned to speak. But as he comprehended what had been said, he shot to his feet.


    [Hanz](the father) ¡°Who do you people think you are to order me around? I have friends in the government. This will not stand; I will not allow it, my daugh... the Phoenix Program is safest where I say it¡¯s safest!¡±


    After he finished his speech, the man across from him motioned for him to sit back down as the woman continued.


    [female government agent] ¡°The decision has already been made; there is no changing it now. I fear you may have been idle in politics for too long.¡±


    Hanz realized the words she spoke rang true, so he let out a resigned sigh.


    [Hanz](the father) ¡°Fine, tell me when the migration begins. I¡¯ll oversee the effort myself.¡±


    Hearing this, the two agents exchanged an awkward glance before the woman softly said.


    [female government agent] ¡°Sir, I think you have misunderstood. The move is already happening. At the end of today, your top-secret credentials will be revoked. Sir, you¡¯re no longer part of the Phoenix Project. We only came to do you the honors of telling you first hand.¡±


    With that, the two got up and quickly left the room, leaving only silence in their wake.


    The man could only watch as the officials left, the fake smile leaving his face. He looked out of the window of the estate with a horrible look on his face. The world was falling apart, and he knew it; the supply lines he had relied on were becoming tense, the nations were at each other''s throats. But what could he do? All he had was money, enough to save his daughter maybe, but not enough to save the world.


    His hands gripped so tight he felt he almost might draw blood. As for the first time in many years, he sat behind his desk and began to call some old friends, to ask for some unreturned favors. For the next many weeks, he was busy, and with every call he made, his feelings of dread got worse. Missing funds, missing weapons, state leaders in hiding. Troop movements in every country across the world, the media was silent, only a few people speculated blindly about the tension not knowing the true cause.


    Then he heard the news. Another vein had been found of the element, 100 times larger than any other, and he knew the world had ended that day. He stopped his calls, stopped going out, and sat down, his only contentment that his daughter would be safe. Pouring a glass of wine for himself, he sighed as he waited.


    Just as he feared, the end did come, though it wasn¡¯t nearly quick enough for his liking. At first, the countries couldn¡¯t agree on what to do about the vein; he knew this was all show, of course, they had decided long ago. The new Soviet Union and the United Nations immediately sectioned themselves off from each other, supply lines broke down, rioting started, and then came war, and what a terrible war it was.. The Asian cooperative sphere fell apart under the threat from China, as infighting eventually led to warlord states in Japan gaining hold of nuclear weapons. Eventually, one of those sons of bitches launched one at Beijing; apparently, he was some supporter of the old Japanese empire, not that it mattered much to anyone. China, of course, responded in kind, leading to the rest of the sphere launching theirs. And well, everything fell into place after that; the United States launched theirs, followed by the NUSSR, and well, anyone else who had one just shot theirs up for fun, he guessed, just for fun.


    He managed to survive it; he had known long enough ahead for that. But he didn¡¯t care to survive much longer than to see his daughter had survived, and as she listened to the fading chatter of encrypted military communication, he couldn¡¯t hold back the smile on his face as he walked up out of his bunker. The nation had survived, and that was enough for him. All he could hope now was that the world his daughter would be able to see was better than this.

 Chapter 1 (A Frozen Hope)

    Year 2670


    Snow came showering down in long jets from rolling storm clouds above the now pearly white remains of a once prosperous city. Buildings that had somehow managed to preserve themselves better than the others rose definitely out of the white layers on the ground, the only remaining vestiges of those who had built them. For hundreds of years, these ruins had seen nothing but snow. It wasn''t new to them; however, this time was different. The clouds above were condensing, spinning together into a cyclone that blotted out the sky. Lightning flashed in long arcs across the horizon, turning the clouds into a ghostly shade of purple. Large bolts found their path of least resistance, striking the ground with deafening quakes. Yet, to the barren earth, these strikes did little more than create spectral, non-existent watchers. However, under the earth''s surface, a complex of steel and concrete was undergoing a dramatic event.


    As the lightning continued to pound the surface above, it managed to find its way through a disappeared wire into the beginnings of the complex. With each bolt, lightning shot through the wire, arcing to anything it could find inside the room. Light bulbs were shattered, sending glass shards around, and metal objects were sent flying above the corpses of long-dead inhabitants. They would land for a moment before being shot up again by the next strike. One particularly large chunk of what had once been a screen spun through the air before slamming into the skull of a woman in a decayed yellow suit, slumped against a large console. As this continued below, the storm grew in fury above, like the fist of a mighty being, it spun closer to the lightning, joining with other strikes, adding to their power before they rushed towards the ground in an effort to get rid of their burden.


    One of these chains far outpaced the others, joining with so much lightning that it soon looked like a scar was carved in the storm. Still, even this great chain couldn''t grow forever. Breaking away from the sky, it shot down, and any snow that was caught in its path was turned to mist. It hit the ground above the bunker like a bomb, caring not for the ground, insulting the place. Its electric tendrils moved forward, first past the earth, then the concrete, lastly through the wire and into the complex; however, unlike the others, it didn''t stop there, pushing into the next layer of concrete. It once again found a wire to vent its power into. The bolt continued to the very heart of the complex.


    Inside the heart of the complex, for a moment, nothing changed, but in one particular section of the underground base, an LED light turned green below a massive generator. The generator steadily began to move, putting out a mechanical hum that grew in intensity until it was like the roar of a waking lion. Energy surged through the dormant machinery. Lights flickered on, and long-dormant screens came to life with a hum. The once-silent computers whirred back to action, displaying intricate patterns of code and data.


    Initiating Phoenix Program


    Calculating new objective... [Unknown error detected]


    Assigning default objective [Survive] to all known assets.


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    Finding administrator to confirm... [None found]...one alternative found.


    Passing all administrative privileges to [Rosa Vanheltersmit]


    Rerouting emergency power to central processor.


    Welcome back to another glorious day in the ANS, administrator!


    As the last message lingered on the screen, large pipes leading to a circular pod in the middle of the base began to glow with a reddish light. Inside the pod, the remains of a woman''s body sat suspended in clear liquid, wires, and pipes intertwined into her flesh. Though nothing could be seen on the outside, the girl''s mind started to slowly regain its normal function, her neurons firing rapidly as they moved in tandem with the electricity that flowed through the machines and computers surrounding her as if they were all part of one living organism.


    Where am I? That thought coursed through her mind as her consciousness regained itself; her thoughts slowly flickered. No, that wasn¡¯t right; they didn¡¯t come slow at all, rather they rushed onto her like a torrent, causing her to let out a scream, or at least she wanted to. Hundreds of years of information came pouring into her head: war, the end of the world, the experiments done to her, revenge, feelings that weren''t hers came pouring in, mixed with her own memory. Her brain felt sick, like it was going to collapse. She wasn¡¯t sure how long this feeling lasted, but it felt like an eternity, but eventually, everything slowed down, came to a halt, as she felt the information gradually organize itself; her vision slowly accommodating itself, the darkness fading away as the bright light brought her back to herself.


    The memories that she had digested told a story she wasn¡¯t sure if she was ready to accept, but after examining the information in her head, she realized she didn¡¯t have much of a choice but to do so. What she learned was that the world she knew was over, and as much as she wanted to hold out hope that her father and the people she knew were still alive, it seems to have been 600 years since that event, so the chance of that was impossible. She was stolen away; her medical condition used as an excuse to stuff her nervous system into a reactor. Using her as nothing more than a carefully controlled computer. They used her mind to control weapons, to kill, to massacre. She couldn¡¯t remember why or who was her target; it was all too hazy, as if she wasn¡¯t the one in control of her actions. That time was like a vague haze of terms and recollection; words like revenge, war, and one which stuck out to her, Phoenix project, kept being a constant, and the only thing she could pick out during that time of her recollection. At that moment, she finally remembered a vision of a girl unable to leave her bed. The last moments before her vision went dark, her father stooped over her while machines penetrated her body. She remembered how her hand had touched his face, her lips saying her last words. ¡°It¡¯ll be okay¡±. Those words were like a beacon for her chaotic mind, drawing her back to reality.


    So, my father''s experiments were a success. I really did make it.


    I nearly wanted to cry with joy. This slowly faded as my situation dawned on me. I realized that there was more pressing concern than thinking back to my previous life. It was an odd term for me to use to refer to my past, but I felt like it fit well. Who I once was had died in that hospital room; there was no use in dwelling in the past in the hope for something different. This way of thinking was one I was well acquainted with after years of chronic illness; it was the only way I could wake up each day. Still, as I finally processed all the information that poured into my brain, I couldn¡¯t help but sigh internally.


    I can¡¯t believe those people wrote an AI to control my mind. The thought sent a shiver down my spine. The worst part was they had actually succeeded in completely erasing my personality for a time. The hazy memories that weren¡¯t my own showed that clearly enough. The more I thought about it, the odder it became. Why had I been able to come back at all? Then a thought struck me. Though it almost seemed too surreal to believe. The body which had caused me  so much pain in the past had actually ended up saving me this time. I didn¡¯t understand quite how, but my own mind had beaten the AI and taken control of it. I would rather have thought I was in a bad dream, but I could feel it, the total control over everything in the base, like a thousand tiny fingers, each ready to bend to my will.

 Chapter 2 (The First of Many)

    Ok, first things first. From my memories, I had a rough idea that I was in an old (or maybe it was new?) ANS military base, but I needed to confirm for myself. Taking a deep breath, I focused on any cameras that were still working. My vision was constrained to cameras around a facility, one which looked outside onto a ruined city, the only sign of life being a row of fresh tire tracks left in the snow. Below the camera was a steel hatch leading into a sort of bunker; it was hard to tell where I was with how broken down everything was, and the snow-covered terrain I didn¡¯t recognize. However, I doubted if I would even be able to recognize my own hometown anymore. Switching to an internal view, I saw the remains of many people, confirming the fate of the people who had used me. I wanted to hate them, but the truth was I didn¡¯t really feel anything looking at the corpses of these people who had wiped themselves out over their own greed. They had already gotten what they deserved, besides although they were the ones trying to kill me, I never knew it by their time I had already become an unfeeling tool. Just like my past, these people had also met their end at the unfeeling hands of time. Taking one last contemplative gaze at the room of bones, My view changed again, this time showing an engineering room in the middle of which was a large glass tube like you might see at an aquarium (sadly I had never been) stood as the only mostly intact item in the room. Besides it, nearly everything that wasn¡¯t nailed down and stuff that was lay scattered around like a storm had come through, but it wasn¡¯t the chaotic scene that caused my mind to reel. Inside the tank, the body of a woman was suspended in transferred green fluid by thick hoses that penetrated her body.


    It looks like not all of me survived as well as my mind. Through the camera, I stared transfixed on me. I had never had the same attachment to my body as everyone around me. I had always felt it was a prison made to torture my mind. Sometimes when my mind would because I was unable to sleep due to the pain. I would imagine myself as characters from the books I had read. The characters I would think of were never human. I just couldn¡¯t imagine being one, and not living in pain, and yet as I looked at my ruined body, some part of me screamed out that I was a monster now. That the hope of living a normal happy life like so many others had died there. I let the thought run its course before collecting myself. Something like that could not faze me. If I thought humanity had any attachment to the body, I would have died long ago. Besides, though it had been my father''s dream, I had never believed that I could be anyone other than who I am. No, as silly as I knew it was, my desire had always been to have enough power so that no one else would have to live like me again. It is true that my father''s dream for me to be like everyone else was gone; however, I had finally been given a chance to control my own destiny.


    I¡¯m sure that the old man must be breathing a little easier at seeing his daughter work for herself.


    Peeling my vision away from the cameras, I calmed my thoughts to plot my next move. I needed to find out what condition this place was in. Although from what I had seen so far, it didn¡¯t look very promising, but I had always been an optimistic person. I focused my mind to scan everything that was currently connected to my consciousness. It was a little strenuous to spread my mind out so much; it was like thinking about every muscle in my body at once. Still, the results I found were a promising start. Besides the thankfully in good condition nuclear generator, which powered the base, generator, and air purifier (though judging from the bones around it, I didn¡¯t know if I should trust this one), there was a holographic map, a communication relay that couldn¡¯t connect to anything, and a fleet of small recon quad-rotor drones, which I could divert some of my power to charge. I would need these to explore the base, so I quickly selected the one that was the most functionally charging it up. In the meantime, I shifted over to the map.


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    Projected over its surface were hundreds of red dots of varying sizes spread out over a geographical area that measured distances in the hundreds of miles. Although their exact purposes eluded me, I managed to gather that they were the facilities previously under the AI that controlled me. I suspected that these places were likely as desperate as the base I was currently confined to, but had no way of knowing for sure, the communication network seeming to be cut off. Amidst my thoughts, the drone had charged enough to use.


    I quickly launched it into the air. Its controls felt just as natural as every other machine, but I did do a few laps around the room to make sure I wouldn''t crash it while exploring the rest of the base. finally taking a deep breath I sent it out.


    The drone navigated through the dark and desolate corridors of the underground complex. I had gotten the map of the floor plan of the base in my head. I scanned through the rubble of the base, feeling impassive at the bodies which littered the ground. Shooting past them. I enjoyed the feeling of moving quickly even if it was just my view through a camera that was moving fast. Somehow it all felt so much more real then anything I could imagine. This feeling as I moved through when compared to the hospital bed I had been confined to in the past made me once again appreciate the chance I had been given. Sadly, I couldn¡¯t keep getting distracted; she needed to find the armory which, according to what she knew, should still be operational. Coming across the room, I managed to connect to the heavy metal door, with a label that was scratched off, and it opened without too much trouble. As the old door opened with a heavy creak, it revealed a veritable treasure trove of items and weapons. There were tens of crates piled high filled with unknown contents, some labeled with explosive symbols, others with biohazards, all certainly relics evident by the rust and wear on the crates despite the seal of the armory against the outside weather. What piqued my interest the most was the large square deal tank which must have been at least 2 meters high, the gun missing from it. Next to it were two human-shaped robots, their metal parts giving off an imposing war-like feel. Instead of arms, they seemed to have some sort of heavy machine gun and grenade launcher. I noticed they were standing on metal stands, hundreds of wires attached to them, they hung in their stands clearly inactive, however getting close to them I noticed they still gave off a faint signal as my drone neared. Suddenly with a start, it came to life as I felt a strange connection establish I heard a voice in my head.


    [Unit b1] ¡°What are my orders¡±

 Chapter 3 (Spring? Cleaning)

    [Unit B1] "What are my orders?" The masculine robotic voice sounded out into the room, each syllable slightly disconnected from the others, clearly separating it from any human speech pattern. Fluttering about in my drone I looked over the machine as it stood up casting off layers of dust that had accumulated across the ages of inactivity. It was a little hard to judge in my current state, but it seemed quite tall, at least a head taller than a normal man. Two legs extend from a slightly rusty midsection, its imposing armor which had a shape similar to medieval plate mail sloping up to form a seal around the neck.  Besides the arm with the gun set into it, the other hand was open with overlapping plates of metal that resembled reptilian scales extending up the rest of its arm.


    It bent its disproportionately large flat foot forward onto the ground pushing it¡¯s body away from the wall, revealing a metal platform with six canisters attached to it set into the floor. From the data I had absorbed, I could tell it was some kind of workstation, but as the overbearing figure came fully into view, that wasn¡¯t at the top of my mind.


    The drone carried by my thoughts flew a few feet towards the door, before I corrected it, as I realized that the machine had become connected to my own consciousness. However, unlike the drone, there was a degree of separation between us. It took a moment for me to realize it was like the relationship between a master and a servant. Not outside of my control, but operating in a much more complex manner than I was able to control on my own.


    The robot¡¯s head, a slightly rounded block of steel with a single set of three lenses protruding out of it like the eyes of an insect,  two armored plates extended and retracted around the lenses as they scanned the surroundings, before focusing on my drone again. In that moment, I became aware of a new set of information originating from B1. Pictured in my mind was a complete view of the room, as if shot through a thermal camera. A grin began to form on my lips at the sight of the war machine trying to help me.


    After ¡°waking up¡± it stood still waiting for orders, its head silently tracking my drone as I flew. Now that it was out of the charging bay, I also had a better view of its backside. A large pack extended over its midsection with a chain of hollow cylindrical canisters extending from it to the gun stuck into its arm. I could also barely make out some of its internal workings that had been completely hidden by the overlapping sheets of armor on its front. Below the back of its leg joints were almost completely exposed.


    As I spun around the drone, I also managed to finish scanning the bits of the room that the robot had missed. The other inanimate robot was nearly identical to the first, except that its arms were longer and it held no weapon, besides the huge quadrupedal tank, there wasn¡¯t much else in the room. only a pile of dust and a few small animal bones under one of the boxes, which the blades of my drone swept into a cloud, causing me to frantically drift back to the middle of the room to avoid ruining my own visibility.


    Satisfied that I had seen everything, I flipped my vision back to the robot. "Looks like there''s only one thing left to test, huh?¡± as my drone danced excitedly in the air, I half-heartedly wondered what the robot would say if it saw the evil grin on my face. With that thought, the robot''s left foot dug into the ground, releasing a grinding screech, as it shot into the air. Its arms also began to move; its armor creaked as they stretched their full lengths into the air in the shape of a ¡°V¡±. Seeing this sight, I tried my best to stay serious. Yes, that¡¯s right! It was a necessary test; I had to make sure this thing was under my control, but still, it could just be waiting to find where my body was before it betrayed me...


    The robot then cycled through a series of comedic poses, ending with a mock running stance, still looking almost pleadingly into the corridor of the room. It hadn¡¯t taken long for my facade to crack as I was laughing uncontrollably, causing my drone to tumble through the air like a loose bag. Finally satisfied, I released the robot from its orders. Though it was somewhat for fun, ordering around the robot while controlling the drone had served as a good test of my limits. I had found out when asking it to do a dance routine that I could only give so many orders at a time before the new ones would start to override the first ones. I needed to do more experiments to see if the complexity of the order or the fact that I was flying the drone had anything to do with it.


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    Looking around at the run-down state of the place, I decided to test out longer-term orders. Hmmm, I wonder if this guy can go through all this stuff.


    I sent over an image of how I wanted the room to look while telling it to bring over anything that might be important. I didn¡¯t really know what I was looking for, but luckily it seemed to understand what I was saying as its powerful frame effortlessly walked over and began moving a crate


    As the machine lumbered about the large room, I felt a bit weird flying overhead as if I were some sort of bird. I wondered what it would look like if anyone saw this - a small drone flying about excitedly watching as an armored robot sorted boxes. Though it really was kind of fun; with each lift, the robot gave off a series of agitated clanking noises, and bits of rust fell off its joints. I was a little worried if it would be able to continue to hold up, but as if to calm my fears, it seemed to be getting only more agile as the task went on. Box after box, crate after crate were taken down from the shelves and stacks, slowly turning the mess into a few neat piles. Worryingly, there were lots of boxes that were nearly falling apart labeled with an explosive symbol next to words that read "ANS," and then just as many much cleaner metal boxes that had no labels, only a code. Based on the information, I had in my brain the numbers also meant "explosive". I wasn¡¯t sure why there were two different styles, but it''s not like it really made a difference. The point was there was lots of dangerous stuff here, and while it''s not like I would die or anything if they blew up, it still wasn¡¯t something I was super interested in happening.


    After some time of buzzing around idly, I watched as B1 worked hard, feeling like a proud manager watching their employee. I would have laughed if I was able to, of course, I worked hard as well. Each time a crate was stacked up, I carefully scanned and cataloged what I could. A few crates seemed to be unregistered, and those were mostly the ones labeled with the "ANS" symbol, so I had a pretty good idea of what they would be used for anyhow. Still, it was probably best to check them out myself. After some more time passed, I flew around the three piles of crates with excitement like a kid about to unwrap a new Christmas present from their parents. I half wondered what exactly each was going to have in them so that I could be truly certain it was time to unwrap them.


    One by one, I had B1 pull off each crate and crack open their tops, giving a satisfying feeling each time its steel hands pried apart the metal lacing on the crate like a crowbar. After a few tens of minutes, I had in front of my camera two piles: one piled high with ammunition, spare parts, grenades, explosive charges, and anything else that would warrant a place being called an armory, and the other one had only a few handfuls of ammunition, three grenades that seemed to only be meant to be fired, two charges which seemed to be filled with gas, a landmine, and a few spare barrels and loose parts. I had split the piles into ones that were good and ones that were unusable. Unfortunately, the pile with nearly twenty times more material was full of nothing but junk, rusted ammo, and falling-apart scrap. I wasn¡¯t sure what to do with them, but I knew quite well they were worth less than the material that made them. In my floor plan, I saw there was a fabrication and construction branch of the facility, but they seemed to be split off quite a ways away from the room my core was in, and I didn¡¯t have any way to try to get any of these materials there to be salvaged.


    I panned the camera on the drone longingly to the large quadrupedal tank in the corner of the room. I had inspected it, but sadly it didn¡¯t seem to work. it looked perfect even without the gun for carrying all this stuff, without it I¡¯d just need to do a lot of trips carrying crates with my good friend B1.  Guiding B1 over to pick up the few bundles of ammunition, I watched with awe as each belt was easily swallowed by a hatch on the side of its back with a series of clicking sounds the usable ammo was pushed along from a chain from its pack into its machine gun arm. Without needing to be told, it picked up the three grenades, each one falling into place along a tube-shaped belt underneath the gun. After a while, the series of clicking noises came to a halt. Assuming it was done, I pumped my digital arms in the air happily declaring to B1 that now it''s time to explore!

 Chapter 4 (Need to construct Additional Pylons)

    Looking at the floor plan, I noticed the room labeled "power" right across from the armory. Flying over in front of B1, who lumbered behind me almost comically. Rust and filth continually falling from its aged body. I almost felt bad for it, but I quickly retracted such thoughts when I saw it mechanically scanning the hallway we were in with its machine gun, something that I have to say was objectively not at all cute! Though, laughing to myself, I¡¯m sure it wasn¡¯t meant to be.


    Arriving at the generator door, I happily move forward, anticipating building  inside of me for what I might find. My drone''s thermal camera gave me a clear image of the faded letters on the metal door, despite the darkness of the bunker. Maybe in here, I¡¯d be able to fully restore the operational power, something that I really wanted to do for further plans. Maybe if I had access to the high-power communication equipment, I¡¯d actually be able to contact people.


    Though I wasn''t sure if that was actually something I wanted right now. I mean, my current body was a little drone, with my only usable companion besides that being old B1. Not sure how much of help that would be if who we were communicating with were human. And if they weren¡¯t, well, then I really didn¡¯t have any strong desire to meet them.


    I opened the doors in front of me, which seemed to open with relative ease compared to those of the armory. I couldn¡¯t quite tell if it was less heavy or had just survived the test of time a wee bit better than its grim counterpart. Looking inside at the power room, my "eyes" sparkled as the digital camera scanned over the environment. In front of me were three large-looking industrial generators, which seemed relatively well-maintained, perhaps even enough to be used. I sent an order to B1, who had just lumbered into the room, to inspect the generators and give a report.


    As I scanned the control panel in the corner to see what I could make of it, I felt the ability to interface with the panel, but whether because it was broken or just simply offline, it neither powered on nor allowed me to interact any further with it. I¡¯m sure if I had a face, it¡¯d be pouting. But my spirits were still high as ever considering the door even opened in the first place. Still, according to the data, I knew that the terminal recorded the activity history of the generator in greater detail than what was available to me, which would be nice to see how long power was operational for, and what caused it to stop. Currently, all I knew is that it didn¡¯t work, hopefully requiring only another fuel cell to start back up again.


    At nearly the same time, the report from B1 came up, letting me know it was finished. As I planned my camera to see it holding a set of three large empty containers in its hands, I let out a sigh of relief as it let me know in robotic language that all the generators were in good condition and that the only thing wrong was that they were out of fuel. What made me smile was the small note at the bottom saying the most likely place to look for them was the fabrication facility on the second floor of the facility.


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    Hearing this, I buzzed excitedly up and down, my "heart" racing. If I could power on the facility, I¡¯d have way more options. I¡¯d maybe even be able to start repairs and get the other bot operational. Laughing to myself, I buzzed around in circles above B1''s head as it made its way slowly out of the power room, continuing our adventure!


    Virtually pumping my fists into the air, I sent string after string of messages to B1, but disappointingly, it only gave me single-word responses. Strangely, it reminded me of some of the doctors I had in the hospital who would only give me cold glances when I talked to them, but still slipped me a few pieces of candy each time he left. The gap between the two made me find B1 quite cute, well, personality-wise. I still wasn¡¯t at the point where I could find its exterior anything but scary.


    Flying about happily, controlling things, we finally arrived at the large area labeled elevator on my floor plan. But in front of me, all I saw was a strange bit of raised floor looking up to an open chute above, a track running along the height of it, but there didn¡¯t seem to be any elevator in sight. Apparently noticing my confused buzzing, B2 walked over to a small panel before hitting a few buttons and waiting. As I was about to tell it I could just fly up to look, the entirety of the raised floor, which must have been a few meters in length, began to shift and move upwards in one large motion.


    Hastily and excitedly flying into space, I greedily read the report B1 sent me, letting me know that this was a loading elevator which apparently ran on emergency power. I wasn¡¯t quite sure how such a large thing could run on that, but it worked, so I wasn¡¯t going to say anything. Besides, I¡¯m pretty sure it was my job to know that anyway.


    Flying about carefully to avoid getting swept up by the floor, I could no longer hold my anticipation back as I zipped up to the next one, only to be greeted by a shocking sight. In front of me was one larger hallway which looked large enough to accommodate several trucks, and on either side were massive steel doors like those on hangars. All around the hallway was littered with debris.


    Holding myself back from going any further, I impatiently waited for the grinding gears to bring B1 up, the elevator making slow and unsteady progress, clinking and shuddering with each height. Luckily, nothing happened as I saw the form of B1 enter my view. I excitedly sent the request for it to come with me to the fabrication zone.


    Confirming the order, it made its way there, but I had already buzzed off as soon as I saw it had made it up the elevator, greedily interacting with the doors. Much to my relief, even these doors seemed to work, as with a huge noise, they slowly began to move rather ominously, as what greeted my vision made me let out a breath.

 Chapter 5 (A plan takes shape)

    B1 stepped into the massive room first, taking a defensive stance as it casually scanned around the room. Chuckling as I watched the armored robot act like a bodyguard for my drone as it flew past, I entered the area labeled as a factory in my memories. Through the drone''s cameras, I could see a metal conveyor line stretching through the room. Its surface was covered in a mix of metal shavings and rust. As I approached, I flew past a pair of large rollers, metal stuck between them that stretched out over the conveyor belt; stuck between them was a line of metal that looked as if it had cooled into place, its end reaching the ground. As I moved further, I passed several more machines in various states of use. On the ceiling, a track ran around the room attached to its metal frame; bulbous machines, each larger than the width of a man, sprouted dozens of mechanical limbs which stretched down to the floor below. Despite this, I didn''t see any signs of the fuel cells I had been looking for. Checking on B1 I found that it had crawled under the conveyor belt to scan for any threats. During this process, it had apparently decided to toss out any obstructions to its vision, forming quite the pile of raw materials which I was guessing had been stored there for a more useful purpose than hindering the advance of my drone. Shaking my head incredulously, I decided to let it be for now as I came to what appeared to be the middle of the line. Flying up to get past the mechanical arms blocking my view, coming to hover by a dimmed light bulb, I finally found the answer to what these machines were working on.


    Parts that resembled those that made up B1 in various states were strewn across the conveyor. In one spot, creating a bizarre pile of robotic bodies in various stages of completeness. Past the pile, a few nearly completed bodies were attached to hooks, the robotic arms descending from the ceiling in the midst of pushing a complex wiring network resembling a human spine into their skeletal frames. Flying closer to the pile, I found that unfortunately, most of the parts were clearly defective. For example, two arms merely had markings where an elbow joint would go but were missing the actual thing. Apparently, whenever this facility had stopped functioning, nobody had given it the opportunity to correctly finish its last batch, making these parts little better than scrap metal. Snickering, I imagined how it would look if I were to try and sell these clearly defective parts. I was just about to move on when B1''s head popped up beside me under the conveyor. I wanted to reprimand it for startling me, but was interrupted as I received a report from it confirming the safety of the floor. Looking over the detailed information that appeared as if it had gone through every crack along the ground, I no longer had the heart to criticize, but I did order it to go through the pile of parts to see if it could find anything useful as it looked like it was going to check every surface of the place. Its form produced a series of mechanical creaks as it stood up, its arms working in imitation of how I imagined the ones coming from the ceiling must function. Satisfied that the pieces of metal flying through the air were actually forming into orderly piles, I moved on to the nearly completed robots. My drone buzzed around them. Besides the fraying wires that hung in the air and the severe lack of oil, something which made me take a pitying second look at B1, they appeared as if all that would be needed to complete their production would have been a few more minutes of the factory''s operation. I weaved through the machines, holding them on one side of which was finally the end of the line. I examined the area in a slight state of confusion, my drone jetting back and forth. Whereas every other part had clear signs of use, this last few meters of the line were entirely empty. I had at least been expecting a few completing machines, but there wasn''t a single one in sight. I was in the midst of contemplating how under-guard this military facility was when I realized that though the assembly line had come to an end, the room did not. In the far end of the room was a massive pile of what I had at first assumed was rubble from a collapsed structure; having now seen the assembly line, I realized that there were large sheets of metal very similar to those stuck in the machines mixed in.


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    Flying over to the collapsed pile of contraptions in the facility, I looked a little helplessly at the scattered and smashed metal debris which prevented my drone from further investigation. I had to simply fly about as if pitching a fit while waiting for B1 to arrive, who, as if to comfort me, started to press the metal chunks out of the way with relative ease, much to my enjoyment. What was under the debris was a shipping container, on some sort of large transport chassis though that seemed to have been smashed beyond use and possible repair; the shipping container itself was smashed a bit but luckily still intact, as it was clearly labeled with a series of binary numbers which was indicated in my database as a fuel transport container.


    Impatiently, I watched as B1 approached and with loud clanks began to pry the thick metal walls of the smashed-in metal container apart. The metal container, already in a poor state, was eventually spread apart after some strain from B1''s parts. What met my eye both filled me with hope and disappointment. Tens of fuel cells lay scattered about, most of them having lost any trace of use, the compounds inside having degraded over time into some sort of brown slurry. But as I flew expectantly in watching B1 carefully move each one, careful not to break open the sensitive cells, I heard a small, almost excited report from it as it proudly, though I think I was projecting that, held up a fuel cell with bluish-amber liquid still inside, clearly being at least partially usable even if it wasn''t entirely intact. Looking at it, I was excited; even if it was the only one here, I''d at least be able to power a third of the facility. Sending more orders to B1, I happily flew back to the elevator, ready to start the next phase of restoration.

 Chapter 6 (It鈥檚 alive)

    Flying lazily above the elevator, the drone drifted above the large metal plate almost listlessly as I waited for B1 to arrive at the platform.  Growing impatient as it slowly walked along the long metal hallway I started to amuse myself by switching my camera view to b1''s camera, as I waited for it to get on the elevator. I found it kind of funny how I could swap my vison so easily, its low heavy pace as it carried the fuel cell it had, as it made its way to my location, making the camera wobble, I could even see my own "body" hovering above the elevator.  Having amused myself for long enough, B1 finally arrived and started the elevator per my orders. With the familiar grinding noise, the elevator slid down its guide, though this time with considerably less hassle, actually quite smooth considering the circumstances of its upkeep.


    Reaching the base floor of the bunker again, I happily accompanied B1 back to the door at the power room, doing my best to make small talk with the robot, but sadly, once more, I was forced to realize that B1 was not very conversational. Opening the power room, I had a decision to make: I could hopefully use the cell I had to restore power to a third of the facility, but the question was which third.


    Reviewing the plans I had in my database, the three generators were marked as A, B, and C, with each one restoring power to a specific section. A restored power to the living quarters, armory, and main room, B to the factory and foundry, and C to the defensive network and long-range communication. Those were the main items I¡¯d be getting in each one, and the problem was I wanted them all! But I had to choose. Ahh, why is life so unfair?


    Pumping my fist in the air angrily¡ªwell, doing no such thing, but luckily no one was here to correct me¡ªI buzzed around B1¡¯s head as I considered the options. From what I knew about the power generators, if I put the cell in, I wouldn¡¯t be able to take it out again without damaging the fuel cell. Luckily, it could be ejected in an emergency, but the cell itself wouldn¡¯t be usable again.


    After some time considering, the benefits of each choice were clear. All the options seemed appealing, but after working through what they offered, I realized there was only one good choice. Restarting the place I woke up in could be good, after all, there seemed to be a lot of important equipment down there¡ªthings like air purification and food production, access to the sleeping quarters, but considering my current state these weren¡¯t of much use to me. The only really interesting thing it seemed to do was power back on the armory. Thinking back on the uncharged state of the other unit, and the quad pedal tank, (though I doubted that would work even if it had a charge). I was a bit tempted.


    Still, none of that was needed now as I had a plan at least to get the B2 operational, and the tank could wait for now. The second item of consideration was the top floor of the bunker, powering the surveillance and defense network. I wasn¡¯t sure what the surveillance network was, but based on what I could find in the bunker database; it comprised a network of high-powered radars, and sensors that made up the bunker''s early warning system.  It also supplemented the current local communications. In addition to the surveillance equipment, the bunker defenses sound almost too good to be true.  At its peak, the place was guarded by rows of turrets and barriers that could be activated on the surface, and gas and other traps inside I supposed to kill anyone who could make it past a storm of bullets. As much as I wanted to activate this for a bit of peace of mind, but my database hadn¡¯t been updated in more than two hundred years meaning I had no way of knowing if any of it worked, besides I never had the intention of being holed up in the bunker for the rest of my time, so that was also sadly out of the equation.


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    The last choice was the most appealing: diverting the power to the factory location and the foundry. Unlike the defense network, the factory¡¯s location made it ideal to fix if anything were to go wrong. It also solved the most pressing need I had now: my total lack of manpower.


    If I could restart the foundry and factory and use the remaining resources to finish the run of robots in production, even if they were inferior products to B1 or B2¡ªwell, assuming B2 worked¡ªthen I¡¯d have quite the force. I suspected even without powering on the factory I could maybe complete a bot or two(given enough time),  But I was a manager; what am I supposed to work? Impossible! Maybe a little overly excited about what was coming, I waited, buzzing around as B1 carefully lined the fuel cell up with the opening on the generator, pushing down heavily. With a loud gachunk, it fell into place into the generator. The instant it made contact, the entire room was filled with the noise of grinding dust and metal scraping as the fuel cell sunk deeper and deeper. I looked on a little worried about what was going to happen; the entire generator seemed like it was going to fall apart before it even powered on. But just as I was about to give up hope, the generator''s rapid spinning started to slow down, and with a rhythmic thumping, the entire place came to life. The darkness was illuminated instantly by a flash of light, blinding my camera sensors for a moment. Stunning me for a moment as it adjusted to the light. While Complaining that even as a robot I still had to deal with light sensitivity. I panned over to the screen which was now illuminated with a flickering glow. Surprisingly, all the electrical wiring to the generator seemed to hold up fine, as none of the lights started to burn out.


    On the panel was displayed the information I was wondering about: the generators had stopped functioning some 400 years ago when a command was received. However, the command was corrupted, and I could neither see who the sender was, nor the reason for the order. Even without the information I had been hoping for. I was happy enough to have gotten the power function to work. I mean, that was a big achievement in the grand scale of things, right? This is one great step forward for me! And uh, one powered bunker for uh, me as well, I guess. As my thoughts whirled around my head I flew back and active the elevator back to the second floor without waiting for B1. As it reached the second floor I could hear the sounds of the factory starting ahead. My excitement reached new heights as I listened to the noise of the machines going to work already. However, as I listed I realized the sounds weren¡¯t what I had expected; they weren¡¯t the peaceful and harmonious clanking of a well-oiled machine, but instead the sound of metal grinding against itself, and loud metallic thuds which filled me with a sense of dread.

 Chapter 7 (The sound of progress)

    Quickly flying to see what the noises were about, I almost screamed in horror when I saw what had become of my beautiful factory.


    The machines that had looked so dependable in their inactive state were now going haywire all about, the bots which had been almost at the stage of completion, only needing a little repair work to be finished, were being haphazardly thrown onto the floor of the factory as long arms picked them up, compressed them, and sent them on a huge conveyor built along with other hulks of melted metal into the next room.


    Inwardly cursing my overconfidence I flew behind the conveyor belt into the next room of the factory.  As I entered: three giant metal pots seemed to be boiling with something sending sparks of red hot iron flying dangerously close to my drone, as the large conveyor belt split into three, feeding each pot or well, foundry with metal. Flying my drone closer, a temperature warning popped up to me as I realized the air around the foundry was nearly 100 degrees centigrade. The foundry then began compressing and melting the metal scraps into bars of metal which were put onto another conveyor belt and ferried back into the factory, it seemed. Following the metal along, the conveyor built my drone slipped by watching as they reemerged at the factory. The bars seemed to glow blue, emitting sparks of the same color as they were fed into several machines along the line, which began in an odd twisting and squirming motion to almost print the bodies of the robots I had seen hanging on the line before.


    Watching as lasers and cutters and all sorts of tools carved out the hulks of the robots, as then their inner frames were assembled and a large current was run through each one, charging a fuel cell that was roughly shoved in with wires at the same time. It was an odd sight as unit after unit was hollowed out, filled with internal parts, and covered in armor right before my eyes. Flying to the very end of the line, I noticed that the mountain of scrap that had been there before was now properly cleaned up. in its place was the quickly forming line of new robots, which I will dub! Uhh, new nu1¡¯s for short. Yes, no need to praise me, it''s a very creative name. The entire time I flew about the robots happily, watching through my sensors with glee as my army¡ªuhhh, new companions were assembled one by one. Looking at the robots,  the excitement that had been extinguished in my heart was slowly building up again.


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    Suddenly, I heard the reassuring heavy fall of boots as B1 accompanied, strangely enough by another robot that looked very similar, though it didn¡¯t seem to have a gun on its arm. Instead, it had a round hose on its hand which connected to a container mark with hazard symbols on it¡¯s back and a large shield. Flying over to it, I immediately felt it attempt to establish a connection with me. In that split second, a stream of information flooded my brain; it was a B2 unit, a heavily armored engineer that was used to repair things on the battlefield. Walking over, it stood next to the other units, as B1 dropped two heavy boxes from its back that were filled with ammunition and other items, and almost smirked as it pointed towards the fresh nu1s.


    The next hour or so was a blur for me as B1, B2, and the nu¡¯s started fixing up the factory. B1 and B2 were very similar in their abilities. Both smart and in control, as they commanded the lighter nu¡¯s to bring up everything from the armory to be smelted down and reformed, as well as the fleet of flying drones to be repaired. Apparently, they had attempted to bring the tank as well; however, decided not to for the time being. I felt like a bit of a fool the entire time, like a manager who could only look over at her employees¡¯ shoulders while they did all the hard work. But when everything was done, I had in front of me 12 nu¡¯s all armed with rifles, one nu who was carrying a heavy machine gun like B1 lined up perfectly saluting me by B2. I, however, was having way too much fun to care about their show of force, as I happily flew my 5 new drones around, viewing the world from all of their cameras at once, like I was some sort of giant fly, giggling to myself I however, as I flew the drone around a bit longer my thoughts turned to my next move. Hmm, for now, I decided the best thing to do would be to head to the top floor and the communications room, since while I may not have enough power for the long-range surveillance equipment, I should for the short-range communications equipment. The only issue was the core had lost contact with this room due to a technical error long ago, meaning I would have to go In person to investigate.


    And so, full of confidence, I led my new group of friends, or robots, uhh, yeah friends, out the massive factory door, onto the next leg of our adventure! Or well to an elevator which led to it.

 Chapter 8 (A Message)

    The elevator had enough power to take me to the top floor of the base. The robots crowded on behind me, their steps echoing in unison like a marching band. Landing my drone on the ground, I activated the platform, causing it to shoot upwards.. The seconds ticked on as the platform moved through the concrete tunnel we quickly passed the second layer. Every few I checked on the progress of my mission while idly humming the faint memory of an elevator song. The communication dish, which had been used to receive signals from dozens of bases in this area, now barely had enough power for manual short-range communications. I could feel that I might be able to push more power into its systems, but it would be like giving a crashed car with only a working radio more gasoline.


    Before it could come to a full halt, I had flown off the now stretching platform. The robots behind me had locked their feet into the ground, apparently wary of the elevator''s brakes. Turning my focus away from them as they regained their balance, I looked around the room. It was effectively a large box with cutouts in its wall where the remainder of footwalks stood. Unlike the rest of the base, this place had very little to denote its purpose other than the two nearly completely decapitated truck frames that stood collapsed in a corner. Examining the image of the map in my mind, I realized that this was a staging area connected to the outside world through a sloping road.


    Pulling up the last remaining exterior camera, I looked for where the exit was supposed to be; unfortunately, all that appeared in the spot was the remnants of a round concrete dome and piles of snow. After some consideration, I sent two of the nus over to the weak area while having the others follow me up the sloping road to find out the state of the exit and the communication tower. Flying up the tunnel, I came across the remnants of another truck, its badly burnt metal frame stuck into the side of the wall. Swooping by, I could see the blackened remains of a man slumped where the glass of the windshield had once stood. Internally squinting my eyes, I passed by before finally coming to a pair of steel half-circular doors covered in broken pipes and hanging wires standing at the top of the tunnel. The massive pair of doors still had a faint amount of power going to them, but it was nowhere near the amount required for normal operation.


    Clicking my tongue a little, I had the other robots following me search around for the entrance to the communication bunker that was somewhere around the area while I examined the extent of the damage to the pair of doors. Floating to the top, the sight didn¡¯t fill me with any confidence that they would open even if I gave them the command. The only intact power line was covered in dust, and the massive hydraulic pumps which had once opened them with ease were now dangerously low on fluid. Sighing a bit at the power of old father time, I concluded that at least it still had a chance to work.


    Having finished the search, I suddenly got a series of messages from the teams of robots. The two at the parked cars had found a pile of bones in the back of the trucks as well as weapons that looked like they even predated the robots themselves. Reviving the pairs'' plan to gather the weapons, I quickly approved, before turning my attention to the other robot who had managed to find a way into the coms room. Flying to their location, I passed a pile of metal that may have once been an armored vehicle, though it was hard to tell in its current state.


    Standing around in a semi-circle, my team of bots were examining a metal bulkhead recessed into the concrete wall. One of them was prying on the door, but judging by the rust that covered the handle, it transitioned into an armored steel wall. Apparently, my thought process was passed to the NU  unit as it stopped pulling and took a step back. Its foot reared up, sending a metallic hiss into the air, before it slammed down, causing flakes of paint and chips of concrete to rain down from its frame. Shaking my head, I watched as the robot removed its foot, revealing that the door was unharmed from the attack. Reproaching it internally for thinking that something like that would work, but I realized it was likely acting under my intention in the first place.


    My thoughts were interrupted as I received a request to fire from... Taken aback, I looked around only to see that another NU had raised the cannon on its arm towards the door and was preparing to fire into the tight corridor. Realizing that such an action would likely cause more damage to us than the target, I hurriedly rejected the request before half-heartedly motioning for the nu¡¯s unit to try. I had a faint hope that it would be able to make it through, but after having my expectations lowered, I was beginning to think that maybe this door, the very first obstacle on my path, had thoroughly beaten me.


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    Contrary to my ramblings, B2 approached the door, its long hand extended outwards, and a small blue flame erupted from its tip, casting an eerie glow that would have been almost ghostly had I not been looking at it through a camera. Anything the blue flame touched was turned into molten metal that dripped down, cooling into dots on the floor. When it got halfway through the door¡¯s latch, the flame flickered and began to dim, causing my heart to leap inside of me. But after it sputtered for a moment, the flame roared back to life, quickly cutting through the rest. The hinge fell to the ground with a clang. Hearing the noise, I wanted to pat B2 on the shoulder. I always knew it could do it, never doubted it at all, huh, then why didn¡¯t I use it first? I had to give the others a shot, yeah, anyways, it looked like without the hinge, the metal door had begun to list unsteadily forward, causing all the robots to take a step back as its mass came crashing down with a thud that shook the hallway like the whole room had been struck by a hammer.


    After the dust cleared, I flew down the now exposed hallway, passing over several skeletons, their hands stretched towards where the door had been, as I entered into some kind of control room. My drone quickly spun around, glancing over the remnants of a large screen that was suspended in the air by wires falling down from the ceiling. Seeing the state of the place, I began to fear that I wouldn¡¯t be able to access the main communication relay.


    The excitement in me had been growing for this moment. I had been busy focusing on the tasks that were in front of me, but it hadn¡¯t stopped the thoughts from running wild in my mind. What would the world outside be like? What will I do? Surely, nobody will want to listen to the words of a machine, even if I could help them... It had always been my intention to fix this fractured age (that painfully may have been my own doing). My goal was rapidly approaching, and I couldn¡¯t feel more conflicted. Even in my past life, I had never really had free will. My mind was free, but it was bound like chains by my body. Ahh, free will, I could do whatever I want now? Yet, despite how intoxicating those words should have been, they felt empty like an empty vessel. I realized that I didn¡¯t have the faintest idea of what it really meant. Well, if I don¡¯t know what my pursuit is, why not make it searching for a great one! When life gives you existential crises, make it into lemonade.


    All this thinking had left my mind feeling like it was on the verge of breaking. Shaking my head, I noticed that all the bots were standing at attention around a console in the middle of the room. Flying over, I received a message that they had found the relay but had run into complications when trying to manually activate it. Confirming this, I saw that B2 was crouched on the ground, the blue flame coming from its fingertips sending sparks into the air, illuminating the wire ends it was working on after the other layers were melted away. I watched a bit curiously as B2 wrapped the silver metal of the wires together. As soon as they made contact, the pillar lit up, covered in orange and red lights laid out in orderly rows, only one at the center showed green. At the same time, I could feel a wave of information enter my mind. The excitement that had been growing in my heart cooled a bit after I finished processing though what was sent. It appeared that this base had lost contact with nearly every single one of the others. Reading through the past reports, each one was like a different tragedy.


    ¡°Location 56, Large heat signature detected, requesting support from any available assets, power lost, updates impossible (year 2333).¡±


    ¡°Location 99, anti-missile defenses disabled, under sustained fire by unknown target (designating priority 3), all defense units destroyed, requesting to detonate remaining resources (year 2359).¡±


    ¡°Location 34, tidal water levels reached primary reactor 3, routing all information to core, evacuations impossible (2400)...¡±


    "Location 2, power critical in all production units,  time till deactivation called


    "Location 2, multiple heat signatures have breached perimeter, defense measured impossible,  requesting assistance priority 3 (2670)."


    I stared in shock that the most recent message was from today.

 Chapter 12 (New companions) Part 1

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    ¡°Would you two like to stay with me?¡±


    My words hung in the cold air for a moment. The faces of the two girls in front of me changed. Their smiles fading,  the black-haired girl¡¯s brow furrowed in deep contemplation. She looked like she had been struck by a lightning bolt that had been hanging above her for some time. Beside her, the golden-haired girl¡¯s eyes tilted, her hands slowly going limp at her sides. The energy she had a moment ago seemed like it had only been my imagination. Watching the two who looked as though they were stuck in the same bad dream. I began to regret my question


    For a few moments, the three of us remained silent, making an odd scene, as the girls looked at the group of heavily armed robots. I wasn¡¯t quite sure if I should have been less casual, maybe saying something like ¡°Come with me if you want to live¡± would have worked better. The slight fear of the moment made the armored plates covering b1s face open and close repeatedly.


    The golden-haired girl kicked the snow in front of her, casting a tense glance at the black-haired girl, who nodded before closing her eyes. A deep breath escaped her lips. As her eyes slowly reopened, a quiet voice hesitantly broke the silence, as I held a breath I didn¡¯t have waiting for her answer, my stress involuntarily caused the armor covering b1¡¯s face to close and open in agitation


    ¡°If you don¡¯t mind, we¡¯ll accept that offer,¡± her words stalled as she gazed at me for a moment, biting her lip slightly. IB1 was unmoving, but on the inside, I felt my mind shaking with an odd sense of excitement. ¡°Great, umm, don¡¯t worry. If any more of those things appear¡± my words paused for a moment as I thought back to the monsters lying dead in the building behind me. Letting out a sigh I continued ¡°I can deal with them,¡± speaking in a solemn voice and with confidence that was unexpected to me, I stepped forward, reaching out a robotic hand toward the black-haired girl. Her body tensed slightly at the movement, her hair blowing gently in the cold wind as she looked back at me, eyes widening in shock. Smiling on the inside, I continued. ¡°So leave it to me from here.¡±


    Complicated emotions filled her eyes as she slowly placed her small palm in the center of my hand. Her lips parted slightly, a short breath escaping them, ¡°Okay.¡±


    A light cough sounded beside me. The golden-haired girl glanced between the two of us and shouted, ¡°Can you two act like I¡¯m here? Besides, umm, what exactly does any of this mean? Lise! We don¡¯t even know when the next¡ª¡± Her words were cut off by the black-haired girl coughing loudly.


    ¡°Olivia, it¡¯s better than freezing to death or being eaten by mutant beasts,¡± she said slowly. I didn¡¯t pay much attention to her words though, as a realization hit me. I didn¡¯t have any plan for what to do. Besides, I still needed to get the core back to the bunker. I wasn¡¯t sure if these two could even walk that far in their condition. In the excitement of saving them, it seems I had forgotten about basic human needs, besides the lack of edible food, or clean drinking water. I was far from confident about letting them stay in the bunker itself considering the skeleton currently inhabiting it.The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.


    Reaching this thought, I silently ordered the other bots to bring the crate out. Instantly, heavy steps filled the air as they piled back into the warehouse. I sighed lightly, collecting my thoughts, then spoke to the two who were watching the movements of the robots.


    ¡°I have something I need to get from this place. Then I¡¯ll take you back to my, umm, home.¡± I wasn¡¯t sure if it made sense to call the bunker that, but didn¡¯t have anywhere else to call home either. ¡°Is there anything you need to get before we leave? Oh, and don¡¯t be in a hurry. If you need help, just say something, and I can assist.¡± I almost felt like flexing as I finished. The black-haired girl nodded and slowly retraced her steps back into the warehouse. Meanwhile, the golden-haired girl stepped over to a block of remnant concrete, swept the snow off, and sat down, resting her hands on her cheeks.


    ¡°There¡¯s nothing I need,¡± she yawned. ¡°Nope, I already lost my pack.¡± Her face tilted as if she wanted to say more, but her mouth slowly closed as she looked upward at the gray sky. ¡°Lise would get mad at me for asking, but why are you helping us anyway? It¡¯s not like I¡¯m gonna be able to aid you.¡±


    Truthfully, I didn¡¯t think my reasons were that deep. As I received a notification that the rest of the team had obtained the core, I replied honestly, ¡°You looked like you needed it.¡±


    The girl smiled slightly at my words. Her clothes were slowly growing whiter from the snow, but this didn¡¯t seem to affect her mood. ¡°Umm, Thanks. If not for you we probably would have already been corpses by now.¡± she continued mumbling slightly before breaking into excited chatter. Maybe Lize won¡¯t need to work so hard any more. Hmm! any way, could you show me how those weapons work if we¡¯re gonna be working together?¡± As she finished speaking, her eyes glowed, glancing toward the warehouse, where a series of loud thuds resonated.


    I nodded quickly ignoring the last part of her words, switching my view to see a large wooden box being pulled out of the building by two NUS units, each one pulling a chain looped around the frame of the crate. The box pushed a pile of loose objects and dust that it had picked up from the warehouse into the snow as it was quickly dragged into the open. Behind it, the black-haired girl walked out, a large pack strapped to her back and some kind of metal container hanging at her waist. Switching my view to the drone, I flew into the air, examining the area while I thought.


    The core itself looked stable enough, but I felt no confidence trying to bring it unprotected all the way back to the base, which left the only other option of hauling the whole crate back in one piece. The bots wouldn¡¯t have trouble providing the necessary strength, but looking at how it sunk into the snow, I didn¡¯t think we¡¯d make it far.


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 Chapter 13 (New companions) Part 2

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    I racked my brain for a moment. Just because the box itself was ill-suited for travel didn¡¯t mean it didn¡¯t still offer good protection. I needed some way to improve its mobility. The drone¡¯s rotors turned as I looked around the area, spotting a pile of pipes about twice the diameter of a human¡¯s arm. I couldn¡¯t tell their origin other than they seemed in relatively good shape and had a faint green tint to them. An idea struck me. I ordered the NUS units and B1 to gather a pair of the more intact pipes and bend them so that they had a slight slope and were sealed at both ends.


    The two girls watched in mystification as a NUS bent down, placing its arms under the crate to lift it slowly and allow a pipe to be passed underneath, with chains wrapped around it. The process was repeated on the other side, and soon the box lay on a pair of makeshift skis, which, though still sinking into the snow, offered much less resistance to movement.


    Watching the scene from above, I felt a mix of pride and embarrassment. I wasn¡¯t sure if it was the most practical solution, but there was something about a sled in the winter that made me strangely happy¡ªeven if it was carrying a fission core. Perhaps my perspective had gotten a bit mixed up since waking up. Coughing lightly in my mind, I flew closer. Now that the plastic seal inside the crate had been opened, there was a little extra space inside. However, I decided against offering it to the girls. Besides the fact that I wasn¡¯t sure how safe it was to sit next to the core, the box itself offered little protection against the elements.


    At the same time as I was dealing with the logistical issues of transporting the core in person, I was receiving a steady stream of information from the base¡¯s management team. One notification caught my attention:


    ¡°Attention: Parts required for project completion. Requesting assistance. Current estimated time to completion: unknown.¡±


    Switching my focus back to the base, I saw, through the armory¡¯s camera, a hectic scene. Metal parts were scattered profusely. An NU walked below my line of sight, each hand grasping one end of a thick metal grate. The bot stepped by B2, who was bent over a device with a seemingly endless amount of wires coming from its underside into the tank. Walking over to the tank, the NU connected the grate to another that ran along its tracks, forming one long line of grates extending the length of the tank. The grates were about a foot away from the tank¡¯s main body. Several armored plates had been removed, exposing the inner workings.


    Seeing the complicated construction and silently comparing it to my own creation, I didn¡¯t know whether to laugh or cry. Shaking my head internally, I looked over a list of components flashing through my mind. Some of the missing parts for the tank matched objects I had seen in the warehouse, so I decided to have the NUS units gather anything that matched before leaving.This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.


    After giving one last glance to an NU pulling a long, flexible hose to the rear of the tank, I switched back to B1 and walked over to where the girls were quietly talking with a visible mixture of nervousness and excitement.


    ¡°I¡¯m just about ready to leave. Can you two walk a little longer?¡± My slightly unsure robotic voice mixed with the wind, causing the two to turn around and look at me. The black-haired girl seemed lost in thought, while Olivia¡¯s eyes sparkled with a faint glitter as she jumped into the snow.


    ¡°Good! Let¡¯s get out of here already,¡± she said, her voice quieting as she added, ¡°I wonder what else is there.¡± Her gaze trailed toward B1¡¯s arm as her words faded.


    ¡°Olivia, did you make sure to check you had everything?¡± the black-haired girl asked, cutting off Olivia¡¯s mumbled musings. Olivia¡¯s face froze as she quickly patted her clothes.


    ¡°Yeah, I already checked, Lise¡­¡± A slight flush grew on her face as she began to look around quickly before sighing. ¡°Umm, I left my notebook back when we were hiding.¡±


    As she finished her words, it looked like she was about to take off running, so I stepped forward slightly, coughing¡ªwhich came out as a static sigh¡ªabout to offer to look for it instead. But before I could, a slight suppressed laugh interrupted me.


    ¡°You mean this?¡± Lise pulled a leather-encased notebook with yellowed pages from under her jacket. Olivia¡¯s flush deepened as she lightly took it.


    ¡°How many times do I have to tell you to look after yourself?¡± Lise said, turning to look up at B1¡¯s faceplate. Hesitantly, she spoke, ¡°Could you gather some of the mutant beasts? Umm, their hides can be used for warmth, and their meat¡­¡± Her face twisted slightly as she pushed the last words out. ¡°Their meat is edible,¡± she finished, saying the last word like it was sour candy.


    I was slightly caught off guard¡ªnot only by the implication of eating those things but by the fact that I hadn¡¯t considered food before this point. Though I didn¡¯t like the idea I couldn¡¯t exactly think of a better plan so replied accepting her advice. ¡°I¡¯ll take as many as I can then,¡± I replied, glancing at the pack on her back. ¡°Do you have other food?¡±


    She nodded lightly. ¡°About a week¡¯s worth.¡±


    I had a feeling her version of ¡°a week¡¯s worth of food¡± might be slightly off, but I decided against questioning her on this point and added the beasts to the growing list for the NUS units. Slightly thanking them for their hard work, the three of us watched as they made repeated trips out of the building, each time adding to a growing pile of items.


    A stack of bloody, mostly intact bodies¡ªthe remnants of the beasts deemed uncontaminated enough to take¡ªlay next to a pile of boxes wrapped in plastic sheets. Some of the boxes contained circuit boards, while another held two large glass ampoules with wires inside, along with a mix of other items I was glad I didn¡¯t need to understand to use.


    Olivia wrinkled her nose at the growing pile of corpses but said nothing as she turned her attention back to the snowy landscape. Lise, meanwhile, inspected the items quietly, occasionally casting an unreadable glance my way.


    Once the bots had finished their work, I gave them a final order to secure the sled and load everything onto it. The makeshift sled groaned under the weight but held steady as the robots fastened the chains and ensured everything was secure.


    ¡°It¡¯s ready,¡± I said, turning my attention back to the two girls. ¡°We can start moving, but stay close. The sled isn¡¯t exactly fast, and if anything shows up¡­I¡¯ll handle it.¡±


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